Report: Spotify announces India launch date

After a lengthy delay, Spotify will enter the lucrative Indian market on January 31, according to a report in US magazine Variety.

It set up an office in Mumbai in March 2018 and has a staff of 300.

Earlier this week, Spotify struck a major deal with T-Series, one of the largest music and film companies in India.

This gives Spotify a 160,000-strong catalogue of Bollywood and regional music, non-film music and content from emerging artists.

T-Series has the world’s most-viewed YouTube channel, with 80.3 million subscribers and videos that have been viewed 58 billion times.

There are 450 million internet users in India, with 100 million streaming music. But only a small fraction pays for content.

However, the T-Series deal is a global one, not just for India.

There are over 30 million people of Indian origin living overseas, many in major Spotify markets including the USA, UK, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, and Germany.

4 million Spotify users from around the world listen to its Bollywood tracks.

Before January 31, Spotify is signing up more Indian labels and will install five local languages –  Tamil, Punjabi, Telugu, Bengali and Malayalam – in its app.

Spotify’s Global Cultures Initiative includes Indian music hub Desi, now with over 930,000 followers and featuring popular playlists such as Desi Hits.

Spotify is yet to sign with the Indian operations of Universal, Sony and Warner, but it remains to be seen if Spotfy actually needs them in the Indian market.

It will face tough competition from popular Indian streaming services such as JioSaavn, Gaana and Airtel’s Wynk as well as Apple Music, Google Play Music, and Amazon Prime Music, but is offering a lengthy free trial.

Spotify is currently present in 78 countries globally, and last year was moving into emerging music markets including the Middle Eastm South Africa, Vietnam, Israel, and Romania.

It has a reported 200 million users on its platform, of which around 87 million are paying subscribers.